Late birdies propel MTSU to golf tourney win

Brett Patterson, Payne Denman and Lucas Armstrong birdied their last hole to propel Middle Tennessee State to a two-shot victory over No. 23 Kent State to win the 2014 General Hackler Championship.

The Blue Raiders defeated eight teams ranked in the top 100, including four in the top 55. It also went down as the 16th tournament win for coach Whit Turnbow and the 40th top-five performance.

MTSU had a 54-hole score of 884 on the 6,950-yard, par 72 TPC Myrtle Beach Course. No. 55 Iowa State was third at 890.

“At one point Monday in round one, we were 17 over par and in 11th place,” Turnbow said. “These guys battled back to get in the final group today with No. 23 Kent State and were down a stroke and just played beautifully. We just have a bunch of blue-collar guys whose toughness and work ethic in the winter is now paying off.”

Patterson, Denman and Armstrong tied for 11th overall with 54-hole totals of 222.